


Without a Word

by nadagio



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Clubbing, Dancing, Garrison days, Kissing A Stranger, M/M, Pre-Series, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 19:04:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10814898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadagio/pseuds/nadagio
Summary: Lance sneaks into a club on the weekend and has some fun, with one dance partner in particular.





	Without a Word

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pearlgirl710](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearlgirl710/gifts).



> This was written in response to pearlgirl710’s idea that the past kisses Keith & Lance were talking about in [Time to Intervene](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10730136) were with each other. This could be considered part of that universe or just part of the canon universe as its own story.

**I Don’t Know Your Name…**

 

His heart is pounding long before he reaches the dance floor. That rush of fear becomes a rush of success when Lance realizes that no one noticed. No one caught him. He’s inside Pulse, the hot weekend party spot for of-age Garrison students. He’s three months underage, and no one is kicking him out!

Lance laughs brightly, and the noise is swallowed by music so loud that Lance can feel the bass vibrating in his bones. Hunk is going to be so jealous! Project, shmoject, no schoolwork is worth missing out on _this_.

He heads to the bar for a drink, feeling buzzed already in his excitement to make friends, dance hard, and flirt with cute girls.

Twenty minutes later that buzz is muted. It’s too loud in here to talk and no one wants to be lured away from their friend group for a dance unless they’re already wasted, and Lance isn’t _that_ desperate for an uncoordinated dance partner. So Lance makes his way to the dance floor alone. He’ll either make some friends dancing or he’ll dance solo, but either way he’s determined to have some _fun_.

Lance steps in time with the music, hips swaying with the beat, as he edges around bodies to reach the center of the floor. That shot is starting to hit his blood now, and his limbs feel loose. His brain is just a bit fuzzy. Lance grins. This is nice.

He decides that his current spot on the floor is good enough and starts dancing, letting the vocals guide the drag of his arms up his torso and above his head as he rocks out. Lance feels the press of bodies on all sides and even if he’s not really dancing _with_ them, they still dance together to the same music. The beat drops and comes back stronger. Lance follows the movement of the masses and bounces with them, hands in the air. The song ends, transitioning smoothly into the next.

And Lance finds himself making eye contact with a girl.

A flash of lights comes their way and he thinks that her face is vaguely familiar, but he doesn’t know her name. Their agreement to dance together is made without words. They simply gravitate together and dance facing each other for the rest of the song. Not touching, but they are coordinated in the movement of their bodies. Some minutes later, her thanks is a smile and she’s gone in the crowd.

A song goes by swaying alone. His next partner is a girl that drags him in by the wrist without warning. She’s very... forward. Pressing close, smile too wide, she’s definitely had too much to drink. But she doesn’t grope him or pass out in his arms, so it could be worse. They dance. When she’s done she thanks him with a kiss on the cheek and moves on to someone else.

Lance finds himself with a mixed trio of friends whose dancing is basically a contest for most silly moves. It’s a lot of fun and Lance pulls out his best worst dancing to claim the winning title – at least according to Lance. They dance together for several songs, laughing and egging each other on, before the trio is leaving the floor and waving goodbye.

Deciding it’s time for a breather, Lance snakes through the throng of bodies to get back to the bar. A glass of water and a shot of tequila later, Lance is ready to go again.

Feeling bold, Lance scopes out the dance floor for someone to approach. Right near the edge he sees a short ponytail of dark hair. They’re dancing alone, so Lance gets closer. More of ponytail’s frame comes into view (their broad shoulders, their narrows hips) and Lance starts to suspect they’re male. With a mental shrug, Lance steps in close behind him anyway.

Ponytail guy turns his head and Lance can just barely make out the profile of his nose before he’s leaning back to press against Lance, back to chest. _Oh_. Looks like he wants to dance. Lance grins and places his hands on swaying hips, gets a good look down the loose t-shirt and yup, definitely looks like a guy.

Where Lance’s chest meets ponytail guy’s back, Lance begins to lead their torsos in a figure eight pattern, switching it up occasionally with a snake or pulse side to side. His partner follows easily, eventually reaching back to pull Lance’s hips forward until their bodies are plastered together, back to front.

Well then. With this he can really _dance_. Lance bends his knees and drops their hips low, throwing their hips side to side with the beat as they straighten, adding in some shuffle steps and hip circles after. Lance hasn’t danced like this since a Dominican friend showed him some moves before joining the Garrison, but his partner follows it all like a dream, adding his own style without interfering with Lance’s lead. Ponytail guy is a good dancer.

They dance. One song bleeds into another, but his dance partner makes no move to leave. If anything he's closer than before. An arm reaches up and back to wrap around Lance’s head. Lance presses his chin to the sweaty skin of his partner’s neck. They move like one being, completely in sync, just another part of the music. Lance never knew dancing could feel so intimate.

For a moment his partner pulls away, and Lance is worried he’ll leave. But no, he’s taking the initiative to turn around, wrapping his arms around Lance’s waist until they’re pressed together chest to chest. They continue to dance, but this time his partner leads with Lance’s arms wrapped around his shoulders. Lance is a bit clumsy this way, not as used to following, but his partner doesn’t seem to mind.

Another song gone. Their hands drift to press lightly against backs, shoulders, arms, hips, and chests. Allegedly it’s all part of the dance, another way to express the music in the movement of their limbs. And yet Lance’s breath is coming fast and shallow. Not just due to exertion, but excitement. _Attraction_. To his partner's body, the way it moves, and the way it fits against his own. They’re face to face, noses touching. And Lance can’t see his partner’s face well enough in this lighting and the shadow of his long bangs, can’t ask him in words over the loud music, but his body language is open and welcoming.

There are mere centimeters of distance between their lips.

Lance closes that distances, bringing their mouths together gently at first and then more firmly when his partner doesn’t pull away. Their dancing slows to a stop. They’re two figures joined together on the edge of the dance floor, bodies still. They dance with their mouths instead - tongues sweeping in rhythm, lips shuffling a step here and there.

Lance loses track of time that way, until someone else stumbles and bumps into them. They jolt to one side and their lips detach with matching gasps. No longer in the mood to dance, Lance grabs his partner’s hand and guides him away from the mass of dancers and toward the bar.

Lance mimes that he’s going to get them some drinks: pointing to himself then the bar, throwing back an imaginary glass, and then gesturing at his partner and the spot he’s standing. He leaves a kiss on ponytail guy’s lips and then dives into the crowd struggling to get a bartender’s attention.

Ten minutes later Lance is back and holding two drinks, but ponytail guy is gone. He searches the club as best he can in the dark with a large crowd, but no luck. Thinking he maybe went to the restroom, Lance waits another ten minutes before searching again. Nothing.

His dance partner is gone, and Lance never even got his name.

He downs the two drinks himself and leaves. All the fun he had tonight is suddenly outweighed by sharp disappointment.

Lance returns to Pulse the next weekend when he really should be studying instead, but he doesn’t see ponytail guy. He has some fun, but none of it holds a candle to the dance of his memory. He goes the next weekend too. Except this time he gets caught sneaking in and thrown out. Banned.

So he gets over it. He has school to worry about. He can’t forever obsess over some nameless guy in a club – Lance never even got a good look at his face. He’s a great dancer and a good kisser. But there are other fish in the sea, and all that. It just isn’t meant to be.

* * *

**...But I Remember Your Kiss.**

 

Some years later and a great distance away, Lance walks into the training deck in the Castle of Lions and sees Keith tying up his hair at the end of a training session. Lance feels a creeping wave of _déjà vu_. A distant and faded memory tickles at his brain.

Staring intently at Keith’s back, at his short ponytail of dark hair and dark t-shirt, Lance dares to wonder if _this_ guy and the guy of his memory could be the same.

Lance steps up behind Keith and places his hands on narrow hips. Keith turns his head to see him and smiles, leaning back until they’re pressed together, back to chest. Humming a nameless tune, Lance wordlessly asks his partner for a dance. His answer comes in the familiar sway of their bodies. It’s a yes.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaah not a single line of dialogue in this! I love dialogue and hate writing description, so I suffered. A lot. I hope my pain was worthwhile!? How did Lance not recognize Keith in the club or vice versa? Why does he only recognize him years later? Sshhh. Author’s prerogative, my friend! :D
> 
> Update: [Now there's an illustration of Lance and Keith dancing.](https://n-adagio.tumblr.com/post/160312684277/created-as-an-illustration-of-my-ficlet-without) :3


End file.
